FX.co ★ Micron and SK Hynix cross $1 trillion market cap amid memory chip boom

The list of the world’s largest technology giants with market capitalizations above one trillion dollars has grown by two more members of the global artificial intelligence revolution. The new entrants to the elite financial club are US-based Micron Technology and South Korean SK Hynix, both specializing in the manufacture of high-tech memory chips. SK Hynix stock showed especially striking momentum on Wednesday, May 27, jumping nearly 10% in trading and lifting the company’s market capitalization to a record 1,680 trillion won (about $1.12 trillion). As a result, the company officially became the third Asian corporation in history to surpass that threshold.

The rapid rise of the semiconductor sector has put South Korea in a unique position on the geopolitical stage. The country became the first state in the world outside the United States to host two-trillion-dollar companies. The newcomer’s nearest rival and leader in the Asian market, Samsung Electronics, registered a market capitalization above $1 trillion slightly earlier on May 6. An additional boost to Samsung’s position came from the successful resolution of an internal dispute and the union’s approval of a bonus agreement. US-based Micron Technology cleared the milestone on Tuesday after shares rose 245% year-to-date. In total, only three players in the Asian region hold a trillion-dollar status at present, including Taiwan’s TSMC.

The chipmaker's success set off a powerful rally шn equity markets that has dramatically shifted conditions in the Asian market. South Korea’s main stock index KOSPI, which was trading well below 5,100 points in early March, closed at a record 8,228.7 points on the back of the recent news. Kang Dae Kwon, chief investment officer at Seoul-based Life Asset Management, said memory chip producers had long been irrationally undervalued by investors. Experts agree that global markets are now witnessing a broad restoration of fair value in the technology sector and that the rally is only in its early stages.